In summary, the relationship between oxidative stress and atrial fibrillation is complex and incompletely understood on the molecular level. Nevertheless, it is clear that this relationship does exist, and therefore serves as a potential focus for medical therapy. In fact, Carnes et al. clearly demonstrated that using ascorbate perioperatively to blunt the effects of oxidative stress results in both decreased peroxynitrite formation and a lower incidence of AF after CABG. Therefore, investigators propose to do more work in this arena to better elucidate the relationship of oxidative stress and AF.